Wrangling with the Black monster: young Black mixed‐race men and masculinities

Abstract

In recent times there has been a proliferation of scholarship exploring ‘mixedness’ and mixed‐race people. This is evidenced by the emergence of Critical Mixed Race Studies (CMRS) as a distinct field of academic inquiry. However, despite the growth of CMRS, there remains a scarcity of scholarship that considers mixed‐race experiences from a disaggregated, intersectional perspective. Where CMRS has been attentive to the intersection of gender, the focus has largely been on women and femininity. By way of a response, in this article I draw upon data from semi‐structured interviews with Black mixed‐race men in the UK and the US in order to explore how Black mixed‐race men negotiate their raced and gendered identities, particularly in the context of schooling. Drawing upon George Yancy’s (2017) theorizations of the Black monster, I argue that a sense of double consciousness (and even multiple consciousness) means Black mixed‐race men are acutely aware of how the white gaze threatens to fragment and erase them. Yet rather than being passive victims of racism, I show that, through hybridity, the imposition of the Black monster stereotype is something that Black mixed‐race men are able to resist, modify and manipulate for their own ends.

Black Men’s Experiences of Colourism in the UK

“…Similarly, Bilal referred to being disadvantaged compared with Mixed-Race men in the relationship market due to his darker skin, which fits with Joseph-Salisbury’s (2019) findings on Mixed-Race men in the UK and USA:[A] lot of girls were interested in the light-skin Mixed-Race boy with the blue eyes, fair skin and fine hair. .…”

“…This is in contrast to Black men’s experiences of romantic rejection for having darker skin, which was seen as ‘ugly’ by some women, underscoring the complexities of colourism for Black men in terms of romantic attraction. For example, Bilal reported that he used to think men with light skin were less masculine and weaker, reproducing the ‘light-skin softie’ stereotype (Joseph-Salisbury, 2019: 1763). He explained that:[A]lthough I was somewhat jealous and envious of my lighter-skin male friends growing up, because a lot of the girls were attracted to them, I was still able to attract some Black, some other races of women because my complexion was seen to be masculine.…”

“…This is in contrast to Black men's experiences of romantic rejection for having darker skin, which was seen as 'ugly' by some women, underscoring the complexities of colourism for Black men in terms of romantic attraction. For example, Bilal reported that he used to think men with light skin were less masculine and weaker, reproducing the 'light-skin softie' stereotype (Joseph-Salisbury, 2019: 1763. He explained that:…”

“…Monrose, 2020) and Mixed-Race men (e.g. Joseph-Salisbury, 2019) in the UK by exploring how skin shade affects Black and Mixed-Race men’s experiences.…”

Youth Justice, Black Children and Young Men in Liverpool: A Story of Rac(ism), Identity and Contested Spaces

“…It has particular relevance to the experience of the black children and young men in Liverpool, where there is an acknowledgement, by some, of the structural and institutional racism embedded within the city, yet the discourse of rac(ism) is denied in the everyday narrative of Scousers, typically defined and unified by class and poverty (Gifford et al 1989;Boland 2010). This means the intersectional spaces for black young men to articulate their experience of rac(ism) and identity are squeezed to that of ambiguity (Hall 2000;Harries 2014;Joseph-Salisbury 2019).…”